Scion

INTRODUCTION

Scion: Hero, Scion: Demigod and Scion: God are a series of three games where the players take the role of the half-children of Gods, in the mold of Hercules, blessed with the power of their divine blood and the moral complexity of their mortal lives.

The game takes elements of the mythic, and places them firmly in the modern day world, allowing GMs and Players to create tales of epic heroism in a contemporary setting.

Scion’s premise is that the savage Titans have escaped their eternal prison to wage war with the Gods once more. While the Gods battle them in the Overworld, they leave the conflict on Earth to their Scion children, fearful of being ensnared in Fate’s thread should they intervene directly. Armed with abilities and weapons granted by their divine parents, the Scions stand as humanity’s only defense.

What gives a person Scion status?
Scions are literally the children of the gods. The bodies are normal mortals but they contain some of their gods Ichor flowing in their veins. This gives much greater potential than most mortals and this potential is truly unlocked during their visitation. As the Scion’s legend grows so does the strength of the Scion’s Ichor giving him the ability to eventually walk with the gods themselves.

Is a Scion immortal?
The quick answer? Not yet. While their Ichor is still thin, and their legend is beginning, Scions are powerful, but not immortal. A Scion can take much more punishment than a normal human, but a well-placed bullet could still cut his legend short. Even the gods themselves have the potential to be slain. When the Scions power eventually grows to the point of godhood, he may be safe from mundane sources of death, but the hands of those whom share powers equal or greater than his own could very well cause his downfall.

Why haven’t people noticed Scions in the world yet? Is there some kind of Masquerade, like in Vampire?
There isn’t a Masquerade, and as the Scion’s legend grows they will be noticed. Having said that, the game doesn’t really talk much about the impact that Scions will have on modern society – will they become media celebrities, and will the Titan War become public knowledge? Or will the battle take place in the shadows unseen by greater society? Thats pretty much up to you as a GM.

What is mentioned in the core book is that till recently many Scions never found out their divine nature. It’s only recently, since the Titanspawn breaking out of the underworld, that the Gods have started giving Birthrights to their Scion children again, and a new age of heroes has begun.

How do you kill a Scion?
The same way you kill an ordinary human, but with greater difficulty.

What happens when you kill a Scion?
They stay dead. It is possible to head into the underworld and to recover someone who has died. In mythology Orpheus did this for Eurydice. However, Scion certainly doesn’t operate by the “death’s revolving door” policy beloved of Marvel comics and D&D – bringing someone back to life is a truly epic deed, and is more thoroughly explored in Scion: Demigod.

Happily, it’s actually pretty hard to kill Scions. Characters are heavily defense loaded, and even once you’re out of consequences and stress your companions can always offer a concession to the other side to keep you alive (but on death’s door).

What is ichor?
Ichor originates in Greek mythology, where it is the ethereal fluid that is the Greek gods’ blood, sometimes said to retain the qualities of the immortal’s food and drink, ambrosia or nectar. It was considered to be golden in color, as well as lethally toxic to mortals. Great demigods and heroes occasionally attacked gods and released ichor, but gods rarely did so to each other in Homeric myth.